SPC Software Changes Company's Culture, Trims Inspection Costs, Improves Turnover

Six years ago, World Class Plastics, Inc. (WCPI) launched itself into the business world supplying a single product to a single customer.  Today, the privately-held company ships 10-million components per month from a product line that spans 500 separate parts.   Along the way, their growth rate has skyrocketed as high as 46% a year.

How did success come so quickly in spite of the enormous odds stacked against many startup companies?  “We think it comes from paying attention to quality and delivering high levels of customer service,” says Ron Buchenroth, VP of Marketing at WCPI.  “Quality starts with a firm commitment by our leadership to put systems in place that prevent nonconforming products and encourage our associates to produce to our customer’s specifications.”

The Russells Point, OH, specialist in thermoplastic injection molding provides parts to automotive, appliance, electrical and medical/dental industries.  “Our forte is very small close-tolerance and visually critical products,” notes Buchenroth.  These include clips, fasteners, gears, cams, bearings, levers, vents, louvers, meter cases and coverings.

Supplier ratings from all their customers are excellent.  Their six-year delivery rating is near-perfect—a remarkable achievement especially when lead times can be as short as 24 hours.

Technology that Supports Quality

WCPI has invested heavily in technology to ensure the highest quality parts.  The company operates 25 Sumitomo horizontal presses ranging in size from 18 to 350 tons that all have Yushin automated sprue pickers and several Yushin multi axis robotics as well as Kawaguchi and Shinwa degating robots.  There are Mitutoyo calipers at each work cell, and additional calipers and an OGP Avant 600 video measuring machine in the Quality Lab.

Integrating Quality and Production

The quality technicians who conducted inspections were also being spread thinly over output from their 22 machines.  “It was our goal to move to cellular manufacturing where each work cell takes responsibility for both their production and quality goals,” he says.  The decision to implement Synergy 2000, a 32-bit SPC software package from Zontec of Cincinnati, OH, held tremendous promise as an enabler of what WCPI wished to achieve.

Synergy 2000 is an enterprise-wide quality management tool designed to stand up to mission-critical production environments.  The system is actually three software programs that work together in complementary roles.  The Operator Level is used by production staff for real-time data collection and input.  The Engineer Level is used by Quality Managers or Engineers who configure the SPC files, establish control and specification limits and analyze data.  The Manager Level is used by executive personnel who wish to monitor all the processes in real time from a single screen and create summary and customized process reports.

“One of the features that immediately appealed to us about Synergy 2000 was the ease of data entry,” recalls Johnson.  “The software is so visually oriented—it makes for an extremely user friendly system.  For example, it notifies you in real time with color-coded status flags in green, yellow or red depending on whether the process is in or out of tolerance.  Similarly, we get a second set of status flags in green, yellow or red for process control conditions.”

“The management software lets us view everything that’s running on the shop floor in all the cells simultaneously, and if a process goes out of control, the system automatically E-mails you of that situation.  We can also send messages to and from workstations right within the software.  But what we really liked was having concurrent data input at all workstations.  It’s an approach we envisioned all along,” he continues.

Outstanding Traceability

Not only does Synergy 2000 deliver the capability study on the tool and the part as well as the Gage R&R study on the gage and the part that WCPI’s customers require, the software provides extensive traceability features.  For example Johnson says, “we use the SPC software to monitor the material lot number and material certification.  We track which press the part is running on to give us capability studies to tell us if we have press issues.  Some of our parts are run on multiple machines, so we can find out which of our machines runs it best.  We also need to know for QS-9000 requirements which gage measured the part and which of our associates measured it.  The system keeps track of our Gage R&R data, and even alerts you automatically when the next study is due.”

To prepare for the launch of Synergy 2000 into the WCPI environment, the company developed an implementation plan that would establish user confidence and ensure a fast start with the software.  Johnson first attended an eight-hour “train the trainer” workshop at Zontec’s education center, and returned to WCPI to share his knowledge with representatives from all three shifts. “We thought it was important to make sure that every shift had access to someone who was well trained and well versed in the software,” Johnson points out.  “Then we scheduled associate training in four-hour increments over a weekend.  On Monday, we actually went into production with Synergy 2000.  It was seamless.”

Presently WCPI is focused on document data control which will help satisfy their QS-9000 requirements.  Placing current documents on the network and opening them within the Synergy 2000 program prevents obsolete copies from being used.  “We can also open pictures and prints, and customize the screen so that when associates open a job, it will automatically bring up the print and any kind of work instructions related to the part,” he adds.

A Culture Change with Unexpected Results

The impact of the new system “has greatly changed our culture,” says Johnson.  “Obviously we’ve become more proactive with respect to quality.  Looking in more quantifiable terms, we’ve been able to streamline the inspection process and redeploy seven quality technicians.  Now the production technician has responsibility for making the part and its quality.  On just the inspection side, we estimated cost savings of approximately $100,000 a year.”

There have even been some positive but unanticipated benefits to the new approach to product quality.  “It’s drastically reduced turnover,” notes Johnson.  “Associates actually feel like more of the team.  They no longer sit unchallenged in front of a press day after day.  They have a higher sense of responsibility and genuine ownership of what happens in their cells. They have higher self-esteem, and want to stay on as long-term employees.”

The software has become so valuable to WCPI, the company has decided to provide the Synergy 2000 Manager Level to selected customers, so they can examine their data and generate reports themselves.  “This activity will reduce our report time by as much as eight to 10 hours a week. It’s a good example of how we are looking for ways to continuously improve, increase efficiency, and add a higher level of value to our service.  Synergy 2000 definitely helps us achieve that higher level of value,” concludes Buchenroth.